


choose to be

by HeavenlyDusk



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Families of Choice, Gen, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23884480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavenlyDusk/pseuds/HeavenlyDusk
Summary: It's well-known among the entertainment circle that famous actor Natori Shuuichi has a brother complex. Too bad no one told Natsume about this.(Or, someone who works with Natori a lot brings it upon herself to let Natsume know about his new brother status.)
Relationships: Natori Shuuichi & Natsume Takashi
Comments: 31
Kudos: 721





	choose to be

**Author's Note:**

> ohmygod FINALLY I wrote a natsuyuu fic. Considering Natsume is my tumblr icon, I'm disappointed in myself. I honestly think it's just because natsuyuu is already so perfect that I struggle to write fic for this fandom, but I'm in love with this series so I had to write something.
> 
> They're brothers! That's it! That's the fic! Enjoy!

Natori Shuuichi is famed in the entertainment circle for being—to put it bluntly—a mysterious asshole. He’s perfectly polite and charming to the point where it’s near impossible to find the difference between him and some of his characters. Some people don’t even notice, but most find it annoying.

Kaori is one of them. She’s worked with him more than others—sometimes as a co-lead, sometimes as just a side character, but they’ve been in enough films together that there have been plenty of rumors about the nature of their relationship as more than just occasional coworkers. They’ve gone along with it a number of times for PR’s sake, but anyone who has actually worked with Natori Shuuichi more than a couple of times knows that he doesn’t _do_ relationships. Romantic or friendship, it doesn’t matter—he doesn’t get close to anyone. No one is sure if he even has family; he’s certainly never invited any to premiers.

It’s a bit sad that Kaori can say that she’s probably one of the people who knows Natori best, because what she knows about him amounts to almost nothing. But she’s worked with him often enough to pick out the little ticks of his eye that means he’s a bit annoyed, and sometimes he even frowned when he thought no one would notice. (And sometimes, she thought she saw him muttering to himself, a serious expression on his face that seemed more genuine than any other expression she had ever seen him wear. She tries not to think about those moments.)

When Natori starts to open up, it’s such an obvious shift that practically everyone notices. It’s not even a large shift at first—just a simple text. Except Natori doesn’t _get_ texts, and he certainly never _laughs_ when he gets them. One of their coworkers nudges Kaori when he sees this and whispers, “Am I hallucinating?”

“If you are, so am I,” she whispers back, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of Natori texting something back with an amused little grin.

It only escalates. Natori takes calls, smiles in ways that aren’t just charming little acts, and then he starts talking about _Takashi_.

“He fell into a river when I looked away from him for one second,” he explains. Nobody asked, but he continues anyway, “Apparently, that’s normal. His friend just helped him out—didn’t even look surprised! Or ask what happened! And Takashi only laughed. I’m starting to figure out why he’s always getting sick, honestly.” He shakes his head, exasperated but smiling.

_Takashi,_ as far as Kaori can figure, is Natori’s little brother. Or something along those lines, because she’s not sure they’re actually related, considering the number of times Natori references “Takashi’s parents” as though separate from his own. It could be an adoption situation—could Natori have been adopted? No one knows anything about him, so it’s entirely possible.

Natori gets a new reputation—the actor with the brother complex. It’s not totally exaggerated.

It’s a long time before anyone gets a chance to meet the elusive brother.

Kaori is one of the first to notice him. They’re shooting for another film, and this time she isn’t a lead, so she’s watching Natori and his costar pretend to flirt when she catches sight of the boy hovering beside Natori’s manager. She almost doesn’t see him; he’s so innocuous. He’s incredibly frail, looking a little lost about what he’s doing here, and she’s not sure what he’s doing here either, but since Natori’s manager isn’t getting rid of him, she assumes he _must_ be allowed inside.

Natori’s scene finishes and they’re let off for a break. Kaori isn’t the only one to notice that Natori immediately breaks off to meet the boy beside his manager. His smile is wide as he speaks a loud, “Takashi!”

Anyone who wasn’t paying attention before is paying attention now.

Natori’s little brother looks at him like his attention is a nuisance. He glances around nervously, as though he’ll be attacked any moment, but Natori doesn’t seem to notice, or if he does, he doesn’t say anything about it. He throws an arm around his brother, grinning down at him.

They have a conversation Kaori can’t hear and Natori starts to lead Takashi around the studio. Beside her, someone says, “Is this our chance? Will we finally meet the mysterious Takashi-kun?”

“I kind of want to go up and introduce myself,” says another.

“The kid looks pretty spooked, so you probably shouldn’t swarm him,” Kaori interjects. The boy is doing a good job at pretending not to be nervous as he snipes at Natori, but he can’t hide the way his eyes dart around. He’s no professional actor. “And, look, Natori-san is introducing him to everyone anyway. You can wait a bit, can’t you?” She smiles casually just shy of threatening. Having a little brother herself—one who’s horribly shy, and who she tries to keep out of the spotlight as much as possible—she can understand Natori’s protectiveness. With a small shudder, the actors beside her agree to wait.

Natori’s brother does come around her side of the room eventually, just as Natori is called by his manager. “Takenaka-san,” Natori calls, smiling handsomely her way. Many would swoon in her place, but she only adopts her most unimpressed look. That smile has been thrown her way far too many times for her to see it as anything other than plastic. “I don’t want Takashi-kun witness to my manager’s yelling at me, so would you mind watching him?”

“I’m not a kid,” Takashi protests. Natori doesn’t even try to pretend to listen.

“Sure, I’ll keep him company,” Kaori agrees.

“Thank you. I’ll be just a minute.” Natori ruffles the kid’s hair, earning a scowl that only makes him laugh, before heading to his manager.

Kaori turns to Takashi, observing him again now that he’s right in front of her. He doesn’t look a thing like Natori, which lends credence to her theory that he’s probably adopted. He doesn’t quite manage to hold her eye as his gaze shifts around, darting to the side and to the ground. His arms wrap around himself like he wants something to hold on to, and Kaori tries to smile gently to get him to relax just a little.

“Hi. You’re Takashi-kun, right?” she says. “Is it alright if I call you that?”

“Oh, uh, I don’t mind.” He looks up at her, looking her in the eyes now that she’s spoken.

“I’m Takenaka Kaori. It’s nice to meet you Takashi-kun. Natori-san talks about you all the time.”

Takashi’s blinks as though the idea is completely foreign. “He talks about me?” He sounds utterly bewildered, and then Kaori becomes bewildered. Natori is such a doting brother that he _must_ know how much Natori loves him. But, then, the way Takashi holds himself says a lot. Kaori dearly wants to take Natori aside and interrogate him on why the hell his little brother looks so small and uncertain over such a simple thing.

“As I said, _all_ the time,” she tells him. She adopts an exaggerated look of exasperation as she sighs. “Seriously, I’ve worked with Natori-san a lot. Recently, not a day has gone by working with him that I haven’t heard him talk about ‘Takashi-kun.’ It’s honestly kind of cute.”

“Oh.” His eyes are wide, but he doesn’t look upset. Just shocked.

Kaori sends him a small grin. “I saw him introducing you to some of the other actors. They were kind of enthusiastic, right?” He nods and a hesitant, yet amused smile crosses his face. “Yeah, it’s because everyone’s really excited to meet the elusive Natori-san’s even more elusive younger brother. We heard so much about you, how could we not?”

And there’s that shock again, followed by, “He… told you I was his brother?”

And _that_. That is something Kaori did not expect. “Are you not?” she asks, because there’s no way he _isn’t_. Only older brothers talk about their little brothers like that. Only older brothers tease like that, and only younger brothers snap like that. For Natori—secretive Natori, Natori who always seemed to look at everyone like they were just NPCs in a game—she thought it only seemed right that it would be a brother who made him seem truly present.

“We’re not.” Takashi shakes his head. “I’m not a _Natori_. My name is Natsume. We’re, uh—he’s a family friend. He-he doesn’t think of me as his _brother_.”

He’s so obviously wrong that Kaori has to swallow back a bout of hysterical laughter. Natori Shuuichi has a brother complex and _everyone_ who’s worked with him for the past few months knows it. “Takashi-kun,” she says gently. “I’ve worked with Natori-san a lot over the years, possibly more than anyone else. He’s a professional through and through; he acts and does everything he needs to do for his reputation and career, but he’s never had any personal relationships. The only time I’ve ever seen him acting _personal_ , it’s when he’s talking about you. Natori-san thinks of you as family—that, I have no doubt.”

His eyes become impossibly wider. She doesn’t know what emotions are going through him, but she hopes he’s thinking about it. This kid looks like he deserves to know. If Natori won’t tell him himself, she’ll do it for him.

A hand sets on her shoulder and she looks up to find Natori hovering over her. He’s smiling easily, but his jaw is tense. “Hey, Takashi-kun, she’s not bothering you too much, right?” he asks, looking at the younger boy with concern.

“Of course not!” Takashi says loudly. He looks honestly offended on Kaori’s behalf.

Kaori rolls her eyes and removes Natori’s hand from her shoulder. “Stop looking like that. We were just talking.” Then, she smiles cheekily and clasps her hands together. “By the way, Natori-san, your little brother is super cute. Don’t let any of our coworkers get to him; they won’t let him leave.”

The laughter that escapes his throat is just a bit surprised. “You’re not wrong. Takashi-kun _is_ pretty cute, huh?” He throws an arm around Takashi’s shoulders, grinning. They both ignore Takashi’s scowl and vehement protests.

“Yeah. I’ve gotta go, so I’ll leave you two alone. Takashi-kun, think about what I said, and don’t be afraid to ask that guy either.” She nods to Takashi, who calms down enough to nod back. He looks like he really is thinking about it. Natori glances between them suspiciously, but Kaori has never been afraid of him before and Takashi is clearly the nicer one of the two. At least she can be sure he won’t let Natori interrogate her later. Besides, she did a good thing. With yet another smile Natori’s way, she turns and heads off.

“What was that?” she hears Natori ask.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. More importantly, Sensei isn’t happy about not being allowed inside.”

“Cats shouldn’t be on set anyway.”

Well that’s cute. Takashi-kun brought his cat, even if it hadn’t been allowed in. She hopes it’s safe wherever it is outside.

Kaori sits across from another actor—a distant friend, someone she’ll occasionally talk to if they happen to be working together. The other actor looks over her shoulder, eyebrows raising as she realizes where she just came from.

“So,” Kaori says, “you’ll never guess what I just found out.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I went to my friends for fic title suggestions. They all suggested really sad song lyrics. Why are all my friends so sad?
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
